Hyper responsive marketing for introspective entrepreneurs on a mission!

Monthly Archives: August 2013

If you want to enjoy life, money, and health, you’ve gotta break a few norms AND deal with the critics! Consider my typical shopping basket above…

EVERY time I check out with a basket full of greens like this (and please note the WHOLE darn basket is literally full of them, not just the top layer), people sneer and comment: “Starting a forest, are we!???”, “Could you leave some for the rest of us?”, “Looks like you’re deficient in Vitamin Pizza”, “Is there a hiking trail in there?”…

Seriously, it was funny at first, but it gets old fast.

Still, I just smile and take it in stride. Know why?

Because I’ve become accustomed to the fact that if I want to strive for excellence in my life and business, I can’t hold myself accountable to traditional norms. I’ve had to resolve to get used to the discomfort my over-the-top efforts and goals cause other people.

Sure, I’d LIKE to think I inspire them, but the truth is that most people look at me and say “someday maybe I can do that but DEFINITELY NOT NOW” or “I could NEVER”…

The resulting discomfort is too much for them. So they either make a joke, put me down, or otherwise rationalize why THEY can exempt themselves from striving beyond normality. So here’s the sobering truth…

NORMAL = LOSER.

AVERAGE = LOSER.

It’s only human nature to compare yourself to the “norm” but doing so, in my not-so-humble opinion, is a big hairy set up for a relatively miserable life…

AVERAGE body fat is, well…CHUBBY. If you’re OK with that, you’re going to be dragging an extra burden around with you (and probably not enjoying your later years that much) no matter how much money you make…

The AVERAGE adult drinks too much, smokes too much, downs too much sugar, and generally gets themselves into one or more very bad relationships, business deals, and/or other personal situations…

AVERAGE life expectancy is only 77 and just a little more for women. If you’re really OK with THAT then I’ve got a question for you: How in the world are you ever going to enjoy the long term fruit of all your entrepreneurial pursuits?

And the AVERAGE entrepreneur fails, loses their shirt, has great difficulty making ends meet, and is often forced into bankruptcy 🙁

In short if you set your sights on “average” or “normal”, you’re planning to live a short, uncomfortable, unhealthy, and relatively un-monied life. (Don’t shoot the messenger please)

The ONLY viable alternative in my mind is to strive for stellar achievement, hope you inspire at least a few others, and let the critics be damned.

Now, there’s one VERY important clarification I need to make before you leave me today and it’s this… There’s NOTHING wrong with trying hard but not succeeding. I really DO believe “failure only exists in the grave.”

The point I’m trying to make has to do with the GOALS you strive for, not the results you achieve.

There’s a significant and serious problem with our cultural norms, reflected in what people think of as an average and acceptable goal. And if you leave that unchallenged you’re setting sail for a not-so-desirable destination. At minimum, I think people need to know this so they can choose more worthy destinations, or at least consciously decide not to, rather than following the herd in an endless line of cattle to slaughter.

“Aim for the stars and land on the moon” is perfectly acceptable. So is “Aim for the stars and fall back to earth, then try again.” Aiming for Camden, NJ, well, maybe not so much, unless you really, really LIKE it there. (Which IS fine as long as it’s a conscious choice). Makes sense?

That’s what’s on my mind, for better or worse today…

Onwards!

Dr. G 🙂

PS – There are still a few spots left for the Coach Training and Certification class which meets on Mondays at 9 AM Eastern. If you’re interested, please sign up today, or call the number on the site with questions. A few things to note about this class in particular:

This will be the last class for which we offer the $99.83/mo payment option. We are doing this as an experiment and need to let the first 30 or so people play out for the full term to be sure it’s economically viable for us. So we’re going to (at least temporarily but possibly forever) close down that option for new enrollments in just a few days. (Existing clients on that plan needn’t worry)

Secondly, Sharon and I are STILL teaching these personally. We’re aiming to step back from this role in a month, or at minimum to raise the prices on our personally taught trainings (while Certified Professional Coaches who know our system step in at the lower end). I’m not sure exactly when this transition will occur, but if you’re interested in being trained by me personally, it’s best if you get in now

Of course, the $500 Early Bird Discount deadline for the class expires TOMORROW…

Long story short, if you’re interested, please sign up today or call the phone number on the site with questions. (If you’ve got a more detailed questions you prefer answered by email you can also just submit the contact form on the site above)

I’ve got 100 trillion dollars and I can PROVE it! In fact, here’s a picture of it sitting on my desk:

Impressed? Don’t be. Because you can have 100 Trillion Dollars too! You see a few years ago in Zimbabwe, hyper-inflation caused the rapid devaluation of currency to such a degree it became necessary to print hundred trillion dollar bills just to pay for groceries. (I’m not making this up… it got so bad they had to abandon their currency entirely)

Today you too can buy an authentic hundred trillion dollar bill on Amazon.com for as little as 27 cents! Why do I feel compelled to share this with you? A few important reasons:

First, I want to drive home the point that money is only an idea
It’s worth what we all agree it’s worth, and what our government manages to sustain. And because money is only an idea, it’s not something to get truly miserable OR exuberant about… it’s just a necessity of the system. I’ve worked intimately with many millionaires (even hundred millionaires) and I’ve also personally been both financially privileged AND on the edge of bankruptcy. My conclusion? A reasonable amount of money is a necessary but not sufficient condition for a rewarding life. And it’s a morally neutral force… you can use it for good, evil, or anything in between. It’s all too easy to confuse money with happiness, and just as easy to confuse the lack of it with misery. Neither is true unless you make it so, and you suffer needlessly when you do. We’ve all got to master money while becoming wary of it’s power to obsess us on both extremes.

Second, I’d like to neutralize the power of the “I Fart Money” approach to sales.
I think it’s fine for marketing educators (I don’t like the term “guru”) to share what they’ve done as long as it’s true and lawful… and it’s very difficult to sell in this space if you don’t have an “I Fart Money” back story of some kind. But at the same time, I’ve gotta say it’s truly unfortunate how starry eyed people become when they see big numbers. It tends to foster the fantasy that money will solve all your problems, the belief that money is all that matters, and the not-so-smart business practice of obsessing about people’s income when it only represents ONE side of the ledger! (Seriously… I’ve experienced so many “other sides” of “I Fart Money” businesses given my position that I can say with complete confidence that knowing a businesses gross income is virtually meaningless)

Last, I wanted to illustrate how marketers can get an audience’s attention with dramatic statements WITHOUT having to support them with dramatic claims. Remember, the definition of “hype” is a promise without proof… so if you can’t prove your claims you shouldn’t make them. But that does NOT mean you can’t find outrageous and interesting ways to engage your audience, then bridge this attention to something more meaningful and valuable.

Speaking of value, there are still a few spots left for the Coach Training and Certification class which meets on Mondays at 9 AM Eastern. If you’re interested, please sign up today, or call the number on the site with questions.

A few things to note about this class in particular:

This will be the last class for which we offer the $99.83/mo payment option. We are doing this as an experiment and need to let the first 30 or so people play out for the full term to be sure it’s economically viable for us. So we’re going to (at least temporarily but possibly forever) close down that option for new enrollments in just a few days. (Existing clients on that plan needn’t worry)

Secondly, Sharon and I are STILL teaching these personally. We’re aiming to step back from this role in a month, or at minimum to raise the prices on our personally taught trainings (while Certified Professional Coaches who know our system step in at the lower end). I’m not sure exactly when this transition will occur, but if you’re interested in being trained by me personally, it’s best if you get in now

Of course, the $500 Early Bird Discount deadline for the class expires in just a few days…

Long story short, if you’re interested, please sign up today or call the phone number on the site with questions. (If you’ve got a more detailed questions you prefer answered by email you can also just submit the contact form on the site above)

Many years ago I devoured a Jay Abraham seminar called “How I Became a Marketing Genius.” It’s worth tracking down and consuming if you haven’t done so already… but that’s not what this post is about. (I’ve only borrowed the structure from his admittedly immodest title… something I always liked about Jay)

No, today I’m going to tell you how I became a CONVERSION “Genius”… because although it took a long time, it actually wasn’t very hard, and YOU can become one too.

First, let’s talk about the psychological mindset you need to achieve:

MINDSET ESSENTIAL #1: The first step is developing an insatiable curiosity for why people buy. You’ve gotta take this to an almost “sick in the head” level where the infomercials on TV are more interesting than the movie or sports game you’re watching, where you’d rather talk marketing than eat chocolate ice cream (or have sex), and where it becomes difficult to have a conversation with normal people who care about what, to you, are mundane day to day issues. Got it?

MINDSET ESSENTIAL #2: You’ve gotta be willing to look beneath the conventions of normality into the dark heart of society without losing your soul. That means you stop pretending that everyone’s nice and loving, stare the beast in the face so you can truly see human nature… but then when you’re just about to throw up you realize that striving for love and harmony are STILL the only worthwhile pursuits, not in spite of what you’ve seen, but because of it

MINDSET ESSENTIAL #3: You need a certain level of “rational grandiosity.” You’ve gotta believe that despite the fact that the rest of the world opts to hide from reality, you’re going to be able to deal with it. Then you pursue the truth ruthlessly no matter what you find, all the while insisting you can take it.

Now, do you know how you know that you don’t have the mindset yet? If you feel compelled to dismiss the above as unnecessary, introspective and irrelevant to making money, that’s how. Oh, don’t get me wrong, we ALL feel compelled to ignore it… but if you can at least intellectually accept that connecting with the essence of human nature is a BIG part of becoming a conversion genius, well, then you’re at least half way there.

And the GOOD NEWS is that the other half is simple.

Because all you really need to do once you’ve got the right mindset and drive in place is focus on research, copywriting, testing, and list building. And NONE of them are complicated, you just need enough time, experience, and sweat to learn what really works:

RESEARCH: Narrow your target market to make it more possible to study. (Choose a bulls eye keyword, etc) Then look at who’s winning the game in your clearly defined target, and study HOW they’re converting prospects. Finally, talk to your prospects and customers. Really, for Ch___t’s sake will you just talk to them already? I’ve been doing this for 8 years and I can only get maybe 5% of people to get on the fricking phone with clients. Yet EVERY TIME I DO manage to get someone to do it they are amazed by what they learn. Just fricking talk to them… I don’t care if you’re a research genius or not. The ONLY way to do this wrong is to avoid it. Nobody’s gonna start throwing money at you through your computer screen (in any kind of significant way) if you don’t talk to them to understand them first, OK?

COPYWRITING: Look, this is elegantly simple too. It’s not about flowery words or amazing literary prowess. It’s about using words to show them (a) you understand their particular problem; (b) you’ve got the best solution for this problem in particular; (c) you can overwhelm them with PROOF that you actually CAN solve this particular problem; (d) you’ve got an irresistible offer to do just that and; (e) it’s not available forever or for just anyone, but in some way this is a significantly limited opportunity. And copywriting is infinitely easier once you’ve talked to your prospects

TESTING: This is where the rubber meets the road. It’s easy to talk about testing, but it’s hard to implement a lot of them because you need enough qualified people to look at different alternatives to see which ones make them buy. Which means you’ve gotta have the capital and/or time to obtain the traffic… or work with someone who does! Still, this doesn’t make it a well-kept-secret by old men on the top of a mountain somewhere in Tibet, it’s a plain old wall of business risk. AND, you can watch what other paid advertisers are testing in public for FREE if you don’t have enough time or money to do your own. It’s not rocket science

LIST BUILDING: Look, no matter what happens, your RELATIONSHIP with a significant list is what’s going to move you forward in this life. It’s PEOPLE out there who have the money with your name on it… and it’s the PEOPLE who care about you that are going to save you when Google issues the next mega-slap, Panda-Update-On-Steroids, not your tech geek or some secret you learn in an info course.

So that’s really it.

For some not-so-healthy reason I was born with a psychotic desire to figure out why people buy…

I arranged my life to make it possible for me to pursue this desire (at great sacrifice to other, healthier and more balanced pursuits in many ways, I might add)...

I stared headfirst into the pit of the human soul and, despite being disgusted by what I saw came out the other end even more committed to do good in the world…

And I used this to drive my constant research, testing, copywriting, and list building efforts.

Period, end of story.

Along the way I coached and treated a lot of people…

I taught a lot of what I learned…

And I got seriously burned on more than one occasion.

But I kinda like where I wound up.

Just a little (somewhat useful) rant the day after my 49th birthday here on a hot August day in New Hampshire 🙂

For what it’s worth,

Dr. G 🙂

PS – Please submit the FREE EVALUATION form on MerchantAccountWizard.com today. (a) You’re probably overpaying with your current merchant account by as much as 30% (and this can add up to a LOT of money on table over the years, especially as you grow); (b) you may be courting danger if you weren’t specifically underwritten for the way your business is evolving. MerchantAccountWizard.com

This old man climbed Mt. Washington on Wednesday in only 3 1/2 hours (thank you very much!)… and when I got to the top I experienced what was probably THE best example of leveraging the Golden Glove for conversion I’ve ever come across. In fact the use
of it was SOOOO strong, I forgave this particular business a host of egregiously insulting
errors and purchased anyway!

For those of you who haven’t been following for the past few years, the Golden Glove consists of calling out the Desperate Problem, making a truly Unique Promise, providing Overwhelming Proof of your ability to deliver that promise, presenting an Irresistible Offer, and finally a Reason to Act Now…

And in EVERY transaction where money has changed hands (and even those where it doesn’t), if you look closely enough, there is some way at least one, if not all five of these elements are at play. The more competitive the market, the better the use of them has to be, and the more they need to integrate with one another.

OK, so let’s get to it.

MY DESPERATE PROBLEM: I just busted my ass to hike up the tallest mountain in the North East in 3 1/2 hours, was standing literally drenched in sweat at the awe-inspiring “top of the world” without an ounce of energy left to hike down. This is a fricking BIG mountain, and the gorgeous waterfalls, outstanding 80 mile vistas, and amazingly fresh air in the Arctic tundra environment pulls a LOT of hikers gleefully along to the top without giving much thought to the idea that they’re going to have to go back the other way!

THE UNIQUE PROMISE: There is a train that goes down to the trail head where my car was parked…

The Mt. Washington Cog Railway is the ONLY way to get down without walking(The picture doesn’t do the steep grade any justice… it’s as much as 37% in places)

It’ll take you right to the parking lot with a tour guide to entertain along the way.

The alternative? Ugh!

OVERWHELMING PROOF: Trains packed with 150 people or so can be SEEN going up and down the mountain as you’re hiking, and obviously the people arrive alive, intact, and smiling. (It’s worth remembering that a REAL DEMONSTRATION of EFFECTIVENESS is almost always the best kind of proof you can present to the market) There were also sweaty, coal-faced engineers and brake-men running the trains once you got to the top and you felt like you were in an old 1800s movie where everyone respected the guy who shouted “all aboard”… but these didn’t matter that much until you needed a reason for scarcity (see below)…

IRRESISTIBLE OFFER: For just $45 you can buy a ride down. Heck, I’d bet some of the other sweaty old men up there would have forked over $100 without blinking an eye. (This is a vacation spot where out of shape old bald guys with money often try to prove themselves young for one week a year… hopefully I’m NOT one of them yet!)

REASON TO ACT NOW: Here’s the kicker: Every last train was completely full AND they always had to leave the station exactly on time. (I’m not sure I understand exactly why the latter was the case, but it seems very believable when a coal-covered engineer tells it to you with a straight face… almost as if the trains would start crashing into each other if they got even one minute off schedule)

So if you wanted a ticket down you had to (literally!) run from train loading dock to train loading dock and get on the END of the line hoping against hope that there might be room for you. You see, as a hiker you were a second-class-citizen and the people who were willing to buy a ROUND TRIP ticket from the bottom and back were better customers. (This is actually a very powerful marketing tactic which I do NOT endorse or use, but worth knowing so you can recognize when it’s being used ON you) As a second class citizen you couldn’t buy a ticket unless and until the engineer gave you his blessing.

To make things even worse, you often couldn’t find the engineer. Sometimes he was in the post office building on top. Other times he was coordinating things on one train or another.

Oh… and they didn’t take credit cards either. You had to pay in cash. Of course they had a handy-dandy ATM in the building if you found yourself with enough time to get to it while you were running from platform to platform.

Long story short, I finally was “blessed” with the ability to give the engineer $45 cash and get a ride down in a soot filled train…

I think I would have given him $100…

Or my sister.

When I got down and got my wits about me, although I was happy to have not had to have found the energy to hike down and rattled my knees (this trail takes about 6 hours to hike one way at a more reasonable pace)…

I realized this was the MOST desperate I’ve felt to spend money in years, so I had to analyze it using the Golden Glove, hence this post!

There are TWO things I’d like you to do at this juncture having read this…

First and foremost, I’d like you to go through each step above and consider whether YOU could adapt or strengthen that particular Golden Glove element in your marketing by emulating or borrowing from the story. More importantly…

He’s also a former coaching student, friend, and a serious man on a serious mission.

In this intriguing interview, Michael sheds light on the research process for consultants looking to attract more IDEAL clients. He also reveals some subtle shifts in the hyper-responsive process which are definitely worth listening to.

When you were a little boy or girl and your Mom asked you what you wanted to do when you grew up, here’s something I bet you did NOT say: “Mommy, I’m going to run a crowd sourced conversion rate optimization service. I’m going to figure out how to develop the right incentives and infrastructure for a large, talented group of web-optimizers, and I’m going to connect them with entrepreneurs and web merchants who want better response to their sites”

Oh, you DID say that?

Then your name must be Brock Kaye, CEO of Pluralis.com, and you must be the nice gentleman I interviewed from Israel the other day below.

Sorry… I forgot!

Enjoy 🙂

PS – If you’re looking for high-end conversion rate optimization by a razor sharp team, you can still use our group at www.ConversionZoom.com